Collection Summary: Unedited video documentation of George Tsutakawa upon his return to his ancestral home of Fukayama, Japan, on the occassion of the installation and dedication of his sculptural work "Fountain of Lotus," commissioned for Fukuyama's new museum of art. The video documents Tstakawa's interaction with the community, art, and artists of Japan. Taping took place at over a dozen locations, including Kiyomizu, a temple in Kyoto; Isamu Noguchi's Shikoku Island residence; Okawahara Shizuo's studio in Takamatsu; the Adachi Museum of the Japan Sea; and Lafcadio Hern's neighborhood in Matsue. The nine hours of footage is augmented by an hour long tape of a traditional Japanese "farewell" party in Seattle, Sept. 16th, for "Fountain of Lotus" prior to its shipment to Japan.

Also included is a video donated by Hiroshima Telecasting Co., Ltd., of an hour long interview with Tsutakawa which aired on Japanese television at the time of the Fukuyama museum opening and sculpture dedication.

This project was made possible by a loan of equipment from SONY, a Smithsonian Research Opportunities Grant, and funding from several contributors from the Seattle area, among them Marshall and Helen Hatch, Hatch and Kirk, Inc., Dr. and Mrs. Ellsworth C. Alvord, Jr., and the Kreielsheimer Foundation. It was an extension of a 1987 video interview of Tsutakawa conducted by Paul Karlstrom for the Archives of American Art in Seattle (cataloged separately), and was used in the video documentary "George Tsutakawa: An Artists' Pilgrimage," c1990 by the Smithsonian (cataloged separately).

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